| MILESAGO: Australasian Music & Popular Culture 1964-1975 | Tours by Overseas Artists |
P.J. PROBY
Australiasian tours, 1965, 1966
1965
Australasian tour
Support act: Dinah Lee
30 August -- Palais Royal, Adelaide
1 September -- Festival Hall, Melbourne
3 September -- Festival Hall, Brisbane
4 September -- The Stadium, Sydney
6-8 September -- New Zealand
10 September -- Festival Hall, Melbourne
11 September -- The Stadium, Sydney
1966 Australasian tour
(no information available)
History
Texas-born singer, songwriter and actor P.J. Proby (real name James Marcus Smith) became a major solo star in the mid-1960s, scoring numerous international hits and touring around the world. After several years as a struggling actor and singer in Hollywood in the late '50s and early '60s, Proby shot to international prominence in 1964.
Thanks
to his
friends, songwriter Sharon Sheeley and recording star Jackie
De Shannon, he was introduced to TV producer
Jack Good (Shindig). Good was impressed by Proby's talent and included
him in a couple of TV pop shows he produced in the States.
Shortly
after meeting Proby, Good was approached
by Brian Epstein to produce a British TV
special called Around
The Beatles. Good realised that this
would be the perfect vehicle to launch Proby in the UK and after
listening to tapes Epstein agreed to include him.
Proby's performed three songs on
the television special, which also featured Sounds
Incorporated, Cilla
Black,
Little Millie Small, Long John Baldry, Andrew Tayir, American DJ Murray
"The K" Kaufman, The Vernons Girls, The Jets and Trevor Peacock. The
program -- -- the first to be relayed internationally using
the new Telstar
communications
satellite -- was also shown in Australia on the Nine
Network, introduced by Bandstand's Brian Henderson.
Proby won renown -- or infamy, depending on your generation -- for his outrageously long hair, which he usually wore in a ponytail, and for his wild stage act. He began wearing velvet outfits with skin-tight pants, and at a gig in London in January 1965 his pants ripped open during the show, and two days later it happened again. Proby always denied that the pants were deliberately made to split, but when they did it caused a sensation among his teenage female fans, while predictably outraging their parents and generating headlines in the British music press.
Proby made two tours 'downunder' at the height of his fame. The first in August-September 1965 (supported by Dinah Lee) was marked by drama and controversy. 300 fans gave the exhausted star a wild reception at Sydney Airport on his arrival, with the Daily Mirror reporting that a contingent of 20 police was on hand to keep order. His arrival triggered howls of outrage from self-appointed moral guardians -- commentator and radio host Rev. Roger Bush penned a Sunday Mirror column, headlined "Go home Mr Proby: The Merchant of Obscenity", which blasted the singer for his appearance and attitude and denounced him as "an end product of 20th century materialism and cheap, tawdry sexuality".References / Links
P.J. Proby Downunder fan site